Mar 15
The irony of calling it Palm Sunday
It seems to me that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, while significant in all the gospels, is perhaps most important in Luke’s. It is, after all, the climax of the journey to Jerusalem which has functioned as an organising motif since chapter nine. Luke also adds both some dialogue and details which help shape the narrative differently. By contrast the entry narrative is perhaps least significant in John’s gospel, partly because John has detached the temple incident and placed that story near the start of his narrative, partly because it is drawn into the larger and more significant Lazarus story.
It is then ironic that the day on which the triumphal entry is recalled is so widely known as Palm Sunday. John is the only gospel to specify palms (John 12:13 – τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων), whereas Luke, far from specifying palms, has even got rid of the branches (Matt 21:8 - κλάδους) or leaves (Mark 11:8 – στιβάδας). In Luke it is cloaks, and cloaks alone, that are spread on the road before Jesus.
March 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Interesting thanks. When did they first recognise ‘Palm Sunday’?
March 16th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I don’t know that anyone knows for sure.